


Seven ways to say I love you

by Maredwill



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Jealousy, M/M, Riku is a gay disaster lol, Sappy, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, a smidgen of angst, kind of featuring baby soriku
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:53:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29443641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maredwill/pseuds/Maredwill
Summary: "Where'd you get that?" Riku couldn't help asking.Mickey laughed cheerily, inspecting his hand. "Sora gave it to me. He said making them was a Valentine's day tradition on your island. Awfully nice of him, huh?"Riku hummed in agreement, going back to staring out at the asteroids.Mickey let out another small laugh. "Are you not wearing yours Riku?"He looked down at his own empty wrist and shrugged, hoping it came off unbothered. "I don't have one." He phrased it that way on purpose, more neutral than "he hasn't given me one," would have sounded."Well, I'm sure he will give you one soon." Mickey replied optimistically. "There's still four days left until Valentine's day.""Maybe."Destiny Islands has a tradition of giving out suki bracelets for Valentine's Day to close friends, family, and lovers. Sora gives one to all of their friends. All of them except Riku.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 128





	Seven ways to say I love you

**Author's Note:**

> A little something for V-Day. I literally named the bracelets after the Japanese word for like/love lol sorry I'm uncreative.

Riku heard the commotion coming from the tower kitchen as he walked toward it, Lea's voice booming over all the others and sighed, regretting sleeping in and missing the chance to have the kitchen to himself. He turned the corner and found Lea, Roxas, and Xion huddled around the stove, seemingly arguing about when to flip something. 

"You're going to burn it again!"

"No! It needs time to thicken!"

"Just give me that!" 

Roxas yanked the spatula out of Lea's hand and flipped the pancake in question, the resulting sighs telling Riku they weren't happy with the results. He walked over to them to grab the teapot on the other burner so he could fill it. 

"I told you it was going to burn!"

"But look at the middle! It's still raw!" 

The three of them didn't acknowledge him, too interested in bickering to bother. He leaned against the counter to wait for the water to boil, looking at the sad plate of too burnt or too limp pancakes. He let them keep arguing while he got his mug and a teabag. Once the pot started whistling and he reached past them to grab it he looked at the fresh blob of batter and the three determined faces watching it wearily. 

"You should turn down the heat and let the pancakes cook longer," he finally told them, snagging one of the less worse for wear pancakes from the plate and taking a bite. 

"Who asked you?" Roxas snapped, but Riku caught him turning down the heat anyway. He smirked, about to say something clever back when he noticed a familiar pattern of stones and shells dangling from Roxas's wrist. 

"Where did you get that?" 

"Sora gave them to us," Xion answered instead, thrusting her own wrist out towards him, the black and purple stones and shells of her suki bracelet clinking together. 

He looked over at Lea who was too focused on the pancakes to join in on the conversation, but he too had a matching bracelet on the hand holding the spatula. 

"Isn't it pretty?" Xion continued. "He made them for us for Valentine's day! He said he got the stones from your island, but he used the shells from the beach in Twilight Town because the pieces are supposed to represent the person you give it to, which I'm sure you know." 

He did know. The suki bracelets were an island tradition, given to love interests and family and friends alike. He hadn't been back on the islands for valentine's day in so long he had kind of forgotten about them. 

"That's not for another week," was all he said. 

Xion shrugged. "He wanted to give them to us before we left." She glanced over at Roxas and Lea arguing again and rolled her eyes, ignoring them and turning back to Riku, touching the bracelet lightly. "I'm impressed he made these, they look time-consuming." 

"They are." Making one wasn't easy, at least not a good one, and he knew how meticulous Sora was about them. He had seen him comb the beach for days looking for the perfect shells or rocks to use. He must have spent a long time working on those three. 

"Did he tell you what these mean?" he asked her, pointing at the two tiny beads hanging from the ends of the bracelet where the knot was. She shook her head.

"You can give them to anyone, but they don't all look alike. If you want it to be more romantic you use something other than string, and the amount of beads on the end matter. One bead means it's for a friend, two beads means it's for a family member."

All of them were listening to him now, and he watched Xion look down at her bracelet with a bright smile, Roxas checking his more surreptitiously, giving a tiny smile of his own when he found the two beads hanging from the end of his as well. Lea looked at the single bead on his but he didn't seem disappointed at all. "Friends, huh?" He muttered.

"Have you ever made one?" Xion asked him.

"Yeah," Riku said, turning back to his mug and pouring his tea. Actually, he had only made a handful of them in his life. He had made them for his parents of course, and there was one time he had made one for Sora's mom which had led her to giving Riku an embarrassing amount of hugs and fond looks for the rest of the day. And then there were the few he had exchanged with Sora, though they hadn't done that in a long time. 

When he turned back around Xion wasn't looking at him, busy trying to get Roxas and Lea to stop smacking each other with the spatula. Riku decided he wasn't really hungry anymore and left with his tea, wondering why he felt so off-kilter. 

++++

Two days later, Riku was at Disney Castle to pick up Mickey, nodding at the knights in greeting at they opened the massive doors for him. It always amused him watching them do it when he knew there was also a Mickey sized door on all entrances.

"Hiya there Riku!" 

Goofy's familiar voice called out to him and he turned toward the sound, finding the captain and his son coming toward him. 

"Hey Goofy, Max." 

"Is Sora here?" Max asked eagerly, looking around him as if Sora was hiding somewhere. 

"Nah, just me."

"Oh man," he sighed, clearly disappointed. 

"Max, don't be rude!" Goofy admonished with a glare.

Riku laughed. "It's okay I get it." He changed the subject. "Do you know where Mickey is?" 

"Gawrsh," Goofy said, raising his hand to rub the back of his head. "Last time I saw him he was in the garden with the queen."

"Thanks," Riku said, ready to turn in that direction when a familiar glint caught his eye. "Oh, he gave you one too?"

Goofy looked confused before the realization set in and he looked at his arm. "The bracelet? Yeah! Wasn't that nice of him? He gave Max one too."

Max held up his arm more bashfully and rolled his eyes. "He's so corny sometimes." Riku caught the two beads hanging off the end of both of their bracelets and smiled. He wouldn't be surprised if Donald also had one. 

"He is," Riku agreed. "Anyway, thanks for the tip Goofy. See you." He gave a quick wave and walked off toward the gardens. 

He eventually found Mickey and they were settled in the gummiship, a soft clinking sound filling the cockpick every time Mickey adjusted his hands on the controls. 

"Where'd you get that?" Riku couldn't help asking.

Mickey laughed cheerily, inspecting his hand. "Sora gave it to me. He said making them was a Valentine's day tradition on your island. Awfully nice of him, huh?"

Riku hummed in agreement, going back to staring out at the asteroids.

Mickey let out another small laugh. "Are you not wearing yours Riku?" 

He looked down at his own empty wrist and shrugged, hoping it came off unbothered. "I don't have one." He phrased it that way on purpose, more neutral than "he hasn't given me one," would have sounded.

"Well, I'm sure he will give you one soon." Mickey replied optimistically. "There's still four days left until Valentine's day."

"Maybe."

++++

Riku did his best to not let it bother him when a day later he visited the Land of Departure and Terra, Aqua, and Ven were all sporting suki bracelets of their own, the distracting swing of the shells and stones the sole reason why Terra beat him at sparring three times in a row. He wondered exactly how many of these Sora had made, and how long he had been planning this. Of course, you could pick up any shells and string together a bracelet in no time, but he knew Sora wouldn't do that. There was no doubt in his mind that Sora put an immense amount of work into each and every bracelet he gave out. 

Which is why it wasn't a big deal that he hadn't gotten one, he tried to tell himself. They didn't exchange Valentine's day presents anymore, and it wasn't like Riku had gotten him anything or was planning on it, so it was better Sora hadn't wasted his time. 

+++

"Tried" was the operative word, because on the 13th Kairi had asked for his help finding something in Yen Sid's library. He had agreed easily until he saw the colorful shells decorating her wrist.

"Did Sora give you that?" he asked, keeping his voice flat.

She looked down and smiled. "Yeah. He gave it to me this morning. I feel kind of bad because I didn't get him anything, even though we used to exchange these all the time. Did you get him something?"

"No."

"Oh good," she laughed, trailing her hands over the spines of the books in front of her. "I won't look too bad then. I was thinking of getting him something last minute since we still have a day left. Pretend like I had planned it all along." She looked at him and cocked her head. "Do you want me to put your name on it too?"

Riku's mouth went dry, the words he needed to say stuck in his throat. No, he didn't need that, because it would just make things weird and point out how Sora hadn't gotten him anything. 

"I need to go," he muttered instead, rushing for the door. 

"What? But the book!"

"You can find it yourself!" He called out, already halfway across the library. He cringed at his dismissive tone. He'd need to apologize to her later. 

++++

Sora sat on his bed, holding the box in his lap close to him. He ran his fingers over the glossy black outside and the dark blue ribbon he knew matched the lush dark blue velvet lining the inside. He wrapped the tissue paper carefully around it and set it into the bag next to him. He took a deep breath and picked up the older, bigger box still on the bed. He bit his lip and picked at one of the peeling corners, the cardboard worn after so many years stuffed under his bed. He once again wondered if he was doing the right thing, but he had spent too long on the gift to back out now. 

_"Riku!" Sora called as he spotted the silver hair he was looking for, running across the playground to the older boy and his friends. The year six recessed only overlapped with the elementary school's by ten minutes, and he had been starting to worry it would be one of those days when the older kids would start recess late and he'd have to wait until after school to talk to Riku before he saw the older kids rushing out._

_"Hey Sora," Riku greeted, glancing behind him at the blitzball game the older kids were beginning to form._

_Not for the first time, Sora felt a stab of indignation at no longer being able to spend recess with his best friend just because they were in different grades. He shook it off and reached into his pocket, holding out the suki bracelet he’d been carrying around all day proudly. "Happy Valentine's Day!"_

_Instead of the pleased smile, thanks, and maybe even a bracelet of his own he expected in return, Riku's eyes widened and he looked around, flinching a little when Wakka came over to see what was going on._

_"Aww, isn't this cute."_

_Riku had grabbed his hand and shoved it back toward him so hard Sora had to take a step back to not fall over._

_"Sora!" Riku hissed, and Sora didn't understand why he looked so anxious. "We're not little kids anymore, you can't do things like that."_

_"Like...give you a gift?" Sora asked, unsure. Riku was the coolest kid he knew, and he usually trusted his opinions on things like this, but since when did older kids not give each other gifts?_

_"A Valentine's day gift," Riku emphasized._

_"Oh." He clenched his hand around the bracelet protectively but stuffed itback into his pocket, face hot. Riku was embarrassed he realized, because of him._

_"Wakka, Riku, you two coming or what?"_

_"Yeah," Riku called back. He turned back to Sora and hesitated. "I'll see you later," he said finally, turning and walking away._

_Sora watched them go, still able to hear their conversation over the yells of children burning off steam._

_"That was kind of harsh brah," Wakka said._

_Riku waved a hand dismissively. "He'll be fine, he's not a baby."_

_Sora heard his teacher calling for their class and finally turned around. He walked back with his head down and his fists clenched tightly, telling himself he wasn't going to cry._

_That afternoon when he got home, he took the bracelet out of his pocket and stared at it, not knowing what to do. He had spent too much time on it to throw it away, and it felt wrong to give it to someone else. Eventually, he crawled under his bed and stuffed it in his box of random special things._

_++++_

"Riku!" 

He turned and saw Sora running down the hallway toward him.

"Do you have a minute?" 

"Sure," he answered, even though he was already being hauled away. 

Sora dragged them to his room and shut the door. He sat on the bed and Riku followed when he patted the space next to him. "I didn't want to do this in front of everyone."

Before Riku could ask what he meant he bent over and slid a bag from under the bed, holding it up for Riku to take. It was silver with red hearts all over it and a swirly pink ribbon tied around the handles. He reached out slowly and took it. Apparently, Sora had gotten him something after all. 

"It won't bite," Sora said with a little laugh. Riku realized he was still holding the bag out at arms length and set it in his lap carefully.

"This is for me?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "No, I just want you to hang on to it for me. Yeah it's for you."

"I didn't get you anything," Riku said, not looking up from the gift in his lap. 

"It's okay, I didn't expect you to. Just open it."

Riku swallowed his guilt at that but did as he was told, setting the bag on the floor as he pulled out a box wrapped in red tissue paper. He pulled the paper out of the way and was surprised to find a very worn cardboard box underneath, the cover stained with water marks and cardboard peeled back in places. It looked familiar.

"Is this-"

"Just open it," Sora interrupted, hands twisting around the fabric of his pants. 

Riku obeyed, pulling the lid off to reveal six suki bracelets sitting inside. All he could do was stare. Not that long ago he didn't think he was going to get one bracelet, and now Sora was offering him six?

"I know you said we're too old to give each other Valentine's Day gifts but...I never agreed with that, and this year I decided I don't care."

Did he say that? He reached into the box and his fingers wrapped around a familiar looking bracelet, the pale blue stones and yellow shells jogging his memory. The bracelet hovering between them, Riku's fear when he heard Wakka's laughter, Sora's crushed expression. His younger self was such a _brat._

"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head and finally looking at his friend. "I shouldn't have said that."

Sora shrugged, smiling easily, but his fingers were now plucking at the sheets. "It's no big deal, we were kids."

Riku looked back down at the box. "Why are there six?"

"I told you," Sora said softly, and when Riku looked at him he was looking away this time, cheeks pink. "I never agreed with you." 

It took him a few seconds, but finally his eyes widened with understanding and he looked back down at the box. There were six because Sora never stopped making the bracelets, he just stopped giving them to him. Sora’s hard work and thoughtfulness were delegated to a box under his bed all because of Riku's harsh words when he was 11. 

Another one of the bracelets caught his eye and he picked it up. The only shells on this one were long spiral lightning welks, which were Riku's favorite shell, separated with black and blue stones. He fingered one of the shells thoughtfully. He felt like he had seen this one before, but he didn't know how that was possible.

"Did you give me this one?"

He saw Sora shake his head out of his periphery. "No, but you saw me making it."

The second shameful memory came to him.

_Riku finally found Sora after scoring the play island for him, finding him hiding in the cave on the backside of the island, the big boulder partially blocking him from view._

_"Whatcha doing?" He smirked when Sora twitched, not having heard him approach._

_It was clear what he was doing, he had a collection of stones and shells in front of him, the holes pre drilled and half of them already in place on the blue string in Sora's hands._

_Sora shifted and looked at the shells nervously, but he had already been caught. "What does it look like I'm doing?"_

_Riku came closer and crouched in front of him, picking up one of the shells and rolling it between his fingers. "Who's it for?" He asked teasingly, drawing out the o. Sora didn't bother to look up but Riku caught his blush anyway. He looked down at the pile of white shells and blue stones._

_"You should add pink."_

_That got Sora's attention and he looked up again. "Huh?"_

_"If it's for Kairi, you should add more pink to it."_

_Bingo. Sora's flush darkened and he looked away again. Riku looked at his blush and felt the familiar mix of amusement and resentment broil in his stomach. He snatched up the remaining shells and ran off._

_"Wha- Riku gives those back!"_

_He didn't give them back. Not until he made Sora chase him all over the island and attempt to beat him at a sword fight. When a completely different pink and white bracelet ended up on Kairi's wrist a week later, he assumed Sora had taken his advice after all and scrapped his original design._

"I'm an ass," Riku said, his guilt from earlier increasing two fold.

"You were, but you're not anymore." Sora shifted closer. "Besides, I didn't give you these to make you feel bad."

Right, this was a gift, he needed to stop ruining the moment with his guilt.

"Thank you," he finally said. He tried to lighten the mood. "I don't get one for this year?" Noticing he should have one more if that were the case.

"You do." Sora pointed to the bag and Riku finally realized there was another box buried under more paper. He bent down and pulled it out. This box was a lot nicer, the glossy top perfectly intact. He inhaled and opened it, and what he saw inside made it impossible to breathe back out again.

Nestled against a velvet blue lining was another suki bracelet, except it wasn't a typical one. Black leather replaced the typical string, and instead of stones in between there were different charms. He touched it carefully and examined them all. One was a tiny jade dragon head charm he knew they sold for good luck at the Land of Dragons. He also recognized a little bat from Halloween Town, a laurel wreath from the coliseum, a shiny silver mickey head that was probably from Disney, a mini replica of the Twilight Town trolley; all of the charms between the shells were from different worlds they had visited.

"I know it's supposed to be stones but it's also supposed to represent the person you give it to and I mean...all of the places I've been, I wouldn't have ever seen them without you."

Riku forced himself to exhale and inhale again, the breaths shakey. "Sora...this is..." his voice was raspy and he had to clear his throat before he could continue. "Thank you." He ran his fingers over the bracelet while Sora laughed and told him he was welcome, almost afraid to pick it up. His fingers wandered up to the top of the bracelet were the knot was and what he saw hanging off the two strings at the end made him freeze. 

It wasn't the customary beads attached to the ends that made his heart skip, but the number. Two on one string, one on the other. Three of them. One bead was for a friend, two were for a family member, three were for...

"Sora?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are there..." he couldn't even get the words out, his hands trembling.

"Three beads?" He finally looked over as Sora took the bracelet from him and slipped it onto his wrist, pulling on the ends until it fit securely. Sora kept his eyes on the bracelet, Riku's hand still in his.

"Because, you're more than a friend to me, more than family. I..." Riku watched him take a deep breath and look up, familiar blue eyes looking at him with determination. "I like you, Riku." 

Riku didn't say anything, the confession repeating in his mind. Sora liked him? Sora liked _him?_ Sora liked him! And told him so with the most touching and personal gift Riku had ever gotten.

"Please say something." Sora asked, shifting on the bed and his hand slowly starting to pull away. 

Riku curled his fingers around it and held it tight, smile blooming on his face. "I like you too," he said softly. Finally getting the courage to say it was only less believable than the fact that Sora had said it to him first. 

Sora smiled and shifted closer, their knees knocking together. "Yeah?"

Riku nodded, tongue feeling heavy in his mouth. 

"Good, cause this would have been really embarrassing if I was wrong."

They sat there for several seconds, smiling at each other, Sora's thumb rubbing across his hand and giving him goosebumps. Nothing could wipe the smile from Riku's face. He was so unbearably happy, it filled him from head to toe and he felt like it was going to burst out of him.

"I wish I had a gift for you," he blurted out.

Sora shook his head and laughed, squeezing his hand. "It's really fine."

"Still," Riku protested, not knowing what to add.

Sora tilted his head and looked up at him, gaze transforming from delighted to mischievous. "If you really want to get me something, there is one thing I want..." Riku felt it when Sora's eyes dropped to his lips, and he was pretty sure his heart skipped several beats that time.

"I can do that," he choked out, voice low. He licked his lips and had to swallow around the dryness in his throat when he saw Sora's eyes follow the movement. He leaned in slightly but hesitated. He actually had seven gifts to make up for, not just the one. 

He leaned back and lifted Sora's hand to his, kissing the back of it gently, enjoying the way Sora went pink and giggled. Sora shut his eyes when he dropped their hands and leaned forward, but all he did was leave a gentle kiss in the middle of Sora's forehead.

_Two._

Sora's eyes fluttered back open and he laughed again, his fond cry of "Riku," showing he had caught on to what was happening. 

Riku leaned down and left a soft kiss on one pink cheek, _three,_ and then the other, _four._ He dipped his head further, smiling at the little gasp when he kissed the very corner of Sora's mouth. _Five._ There was an accompanying sigh and Sora's eyes shut when he repeated the action on the other side. _Six._

He pulled away slightly, looking down to find Sora's eyes closed again, head tilted up, waiting for his last present. Riku cupped his face and ran his thumb over the lips waiting for his, watching Sora tremble before he finally leaned down all the way and pressed their lips together. _Seven._

It felt amazing, Sora's lips moving shy and careful under his, the chapped areas scraping against his lips and sending chills down his spine. Even though the kiss was gentle he tried to express as much as he could through it, his regret and how apologetic he was and his thankfulness and his love. 

They pulled away and Riku laughed at the dazed way Sora was staring up at him. 

"How was that?"

Sora blinked at him a few times before his mind seemed to clear. "You know..." he said slowly, glancing over at the discarded box. "I spent a lot of time on those bracelets." He smirked and Riku matched it with one of his own, already leaning in again. After all, he had plenty to make up for. 

**Author's Note:**

> Yay! I hope you enjoyed reading. And yes in case you're wondering Ventus did indeed also get a bracelet with two beads at the end lol. Let me know what you think and feel free to talk about soriku on Twitter https://twitter.com/maredwill15?s=09


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